Time to find the Christmas Decorations

Time to find the Christmas Decorations

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. I know we did. We had the lovely BBQ of pig with the family and today our friends came to eat a lovely turkey dinner with us cooked by Mike.

So with Thanksgiving officially over, time to start thinking about Christmas.

As you drive around here some of the houses are already shining with lights and Christmas trees are beginning to sprout in the yards,

We don't do a lot of decorating, mostly a few lights on the outside of the house and few Christmas mementos inside. I do like to see all the lights but occasionally I think they are a bit overdone .

decorated tree photo by Mike

One of the most impressive displays around here last year was a beautiful tree , a huge oak or elm standing alone in a pasture and it had lights all over it. It stood out against the night sky and looked truly wonderful.

I certainly hope they do that again this year.

Simple and awe inspiring.

Cooking the Pig

Cooking the Pig  

As soon as the cover came off we all wanted to look

This Thanksgiving was certainly very different. We usually meet with as many family and friends that are around at the time and choose one of the homes and everyone brings food to share. A typical family Thanksgiving. A lovely idea to catch up all the happenings and news.

This year, our grandson-in -law, Ben.( Chrissy's husband) decided as the event was at their house, he would go the whole hog ,as it were,( pardon pun) and cook a pig.

Still not done

He said he was going to cook the pig in the fire pit they have in their yard but that didn't work out as the rain had left a puddle at the bottom of the pit so getting a fire/charcoals going would have been quite a challenge. But Ben likes a challenge so he set too and built a fire pit with cement blocks and then welded two grids together to form the shelving needed. Complete with trays of charcoal underneath and thermostats stuck through the blocks it was ready to go.

Better than watching TV

It worked out really good. The whole pig was seasoned with various things , the fire got really hot and the piggy cooked for most of the day.

Two small turkeys were added later on and so we had a very different kind of Thanksgiving meal.

All ready to eat!

A most delicious one at that.

Thanks Ben for doing all that work to make it a day to remember.

Another look at being Thankful

A friend sent me this poem and I thought it made a lot of sense.

BE THANKFUL...Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire. 
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don't know something, for it gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character.
Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you're tired and weary, because it means you've made a difference.
It's easy to be thankful for the good things. 
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive. 
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.

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PASS IT ON!Yeah, you can send this Funny to anybody you want. And, if you're REAL nice, you'll tell them where you got it!www.mikeysFunnies.com 

Thanksgiving thoughts

 I saw on facebook that many people were writing what they were thankful for and I thought this was a great idea.

We often go through life without doing that. So Thanksgiving Day is a good time to think about this.So often the things that are always there that make us feel good and happy are just taken for granted.

All in all I have had a pretty good life to be thankful for. .I have been blessed to have had wonderful people around me for the most part that make me truly grateful and very thankful for knowing them.

Those people have taught me true love, responsibility, creativity, humor independence, self reliance and many other things -too many to list.

I am very thankful for my family; for my husband, my boys my daughter in law my grandchildren and the many friends I have had throughout the years. It is a great feeling to know we all still feel like “Family”

I am thankful that I was taught to read at an early age and knew I could then discover the world for myself and enjoy the fun of reading other peoples stories.

I am thankful that I had the chance to live in 3 different countries so I could see for myself the different way people live but that in so many ways , all people want the same things

I am thankful that I developed a love of nature at an early age so I could appreciate the wonderful world around us.

I am thankful for all the wonderful dogs and cats that have filled my life and shown me their love and companionship.

I am thankful for the computer and internet because it has made the world a smaller place, where people can learn from each other and can know and understand other peoples thoughts

I probably could go on all day with things I am thankful for .

These are just a few

Happy Thanksgiving.

300 – Big problem

300 – Big problem

So this is my 300^th blog I have written this year. As you might remember I am writing a blog each day this year and I started on January first to see if I could actually keep it up.

 I added the rest of the days up this year and I am 30 days short. Now I thought how can that be? as I have sat down at some point each day and do this blog whether it is a painting or a write up about an event , a photograph or just random thoughts..

Then I remembered how this came to be.

When we went on vacation or out of town , I took my new tablet with me planning to write the blog on that but never could make it work well enough to actually write the blog so I have lost 30 days .There is a Blogger app for my ASUS tablet but it does not correlate with the Blogger page on my regular computer.

Never mind, the intent was good and it's even harder to get going again if you spend a couple of weeks away from a habit but I did it so onward I go.

Only 35 more to go.

Thanksgiving / Harvest Home

Thanksgiving/ Harvest Home   

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

View this version on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWu_kQUdef4

In England when I was growing up we did not celebrate Thanksgiving .

However every Autumn we celebrated Harvest Home at the Methodist church I attended .

This was a very special Sunday service when everyone was asked to bring some food to be blessed. All the little kids from Sunday school were told to get their mums to give them some fruit or veggies, pies or tin cans to help for the display. These would be brought into the church and the church ladies would arrange them very decoratively and tastefully all over large tables at the front of the church by the altar.

Now you have to remember I grew up during world war 2 and food had been in very short supply and still was to some extent so it always made us all astonished to see the huge and colorful display at the front of the church. I can still remember the magnificent displays of colors and all kinds of shapes just incredible.

We always had a very special service on that day. The kids all had practiced special hymns to sing, the sermon was about the beauty of the harvest and God's goodness to us all and we all were encouraged to think and give thanks for all His blessings.

So I guess Thanksgiving and Harvest Home are very similar in nature.

The Memory Keeper's daughter

The Memory Keeper's daughter    

By Kim Edwards.

This is a fictional novel starting with a delicate love story between a young doctor and a lovely lady. It drifts slowly into marriage and then the falling apart of the couple with the birth of twins. The father, Dr Henry who delivers the twins ,realizes that the little girl has Down syndrome and then mistakenly decides to shield his wife Nora from what he sees as a tragedy by telling his wife that the baby died at birth.

The third main character in the book is the clinic nurse Caroline who alone helps with the birth. She is told to take the baby girl to an orphanage but decides she cannot leave the baby there and runs away with her to a new town to bring up the baby as her own.

She keeps in touch with the Doctor through letters never telling him where she is living.

The Doctor now has a huge hidden secret in his life and novel evolves on how this secret colors and changes all their lives.

This made for suspenseful, interesting reading.

If you like a book on  familyrelationships and outcomes this will appeal to you.

It's almost TURKEY day!!

It's almost TURKEY day!!

My sketch in watercolor crayon of the wild turkey

Occasionally around here you will see wild turkeys. At our old house years ago a wild turkey landed in our yard, It was a huge bird and it was very debatable whether it would be able to take off and fly before the dogs got it. It has a very slow take off ability and then only flew up to the nearest branch to be safe. I took the dogs in and eventually the turkey went on it's way.

Turkeys are very interesting birds,.

Here's a quiz for you with the answers below

What is a male turkey called? What is a female turkey called?

What is a young female turkey called? What is a young male turkey called.

Here are the answers: gobbler, hen, jenny, jake.

How fast can a turkey fly?

It seems they can fly for short distances at 55 miles an hour. Although who figured that one out I don't know. They can run up to 19miles and hour. Again I have no knowledge who timed them.

Maybe it was someone who needed one for Thanksgiving.

It seems that due to good practices and conservation we now have approx 7 million of the birds that live in the American woodlands but these are NOT for eating at Thanksgiving. They are like the presidential turkey who gets a pardon and lives his life out at a sanctuary. This was a tradition started by Benjamin Franklin when his son had a favorite pet turkey called Jack.

Almost time to send Christmas Cards

When I saw this cartoon on Pinterest it really made me laugh but it

also reminded me we are getting close to looking at our Christmas card list and getting started on figuring out how many cards we will need this year.

Now shall be buy some or make some? Do we have any left from last year? How much does it cost to send cards to England, to Canada, to Sweden etc? Does it matter if they are large size or small? Shall we add photos or shall we add a letter or both? Shall we send to everyone on our last year's list? Do we have to delete anyone because we never heard from them or haven’t heard from them in years? Who has moved since last year? Shall we just send Ecards? Shall we send a mix of regular cards or E cards? When is the last date to get them out so they will be in time for Christmas?

After all this thinking I really wish I had just laughed at the joke .

It's too early to think about Christmas.

We haven't had Thanksgiving yet !!

I love the color

I love the color

Photo by Mike

Sometimes when I see something in nature I am intrigued by the overall setting, the intricate way it is formed or sometimes just by the color.

This was the way with this set of toadstools or maybe mushrooms we had growing in our yard on some old decaying tree stumps. Mike took some really lovely photos and what makes them really stand out is the beautiful orange color.

    

Photo by Mike

I thought I might try to paint them and decided that I would do them in a Georgia O'Keefe style- very large and very simple ,almost abstract form It would be a change and that's what I needed to do.

So I got the largest piece of paper I had , an 18” by 23” watercolor paper and set to. Water color paint may not have been such a good idea for this subject but it was fun to do. It may have added more impact with acrylic or oil paint.

This is the result.

Not sure I like the result but I do like the color.

My Granddaughter’s Birthday

My Granddaughter’s Birthday  

Baby Ashleye

Today is Ashleye's birthday.

One of the things I am very thankful for is that I have the good fortune to have 3 lovely grandchildren.They have all made our lives so meaningful and interesting.

Ashleye was the first of our grandchildren to be born and she lived very close to us when she was a baby and a preschooler so we saw her often and saw how she was developing during those all important years. She was a very active and also imaginative child. She would play on her own for hours making up her own games. When we got our pool I was convinced she would become a great swimmer as she loved to swim and was always in the pool.

We saw her less at her family moved on to other places to live but we continued to keep in touch . When she moved back to Denton to go to college again we had the pleasure of seeing her quite often and could see she was growing into a fine young woman with definite aims in life.

Now she is married and we don't see her so often as she travels with her husband but it still is always a delight to talk with her and see how she is doing. I am so glad to Facebook for this as it keeps the family together and Ashleye is very good about using it to communicate how her life is progressing She has become a beautiful lady in both body and in mind.

We are very proud of her.

Happy Birthday Ashleye....and many, many,more

Back to Baking Bread

Back to Baking Bread

I found this really nice book at a book sale recently , “The Bread machine Book” subtitled over 100 recipes for easy to make spectacular breads. Many of the breads I have made in my old bread machine have been easy to make But none I would consider “spectacular” so today I thought I would try one of the recipes.

Photo in the book

I chose Coconut Banana Bran Bread. The book says about it

This is a dense hearty bread ( true) only slightly sweet ( true only uses honey as a sweetener).It is fragrant with tropical flavors ( banana,coconut) . Makes excellent toast.

How mine turned out

Well despite using other fancy ingredients, eggs , butter and bran , I can't say I really enjoyed the look or taste of this bread. We ate it warm with more butter and jam and marmalade  so we ate it and will finish it tomorrow perhaps for toast but spectacular this one is not.

Larry the llama

Larry the llama  

As we drove home yesterday I glanced over at the neighbors property as they usually have a couple of horses grazing but no there was no sign of them. However at the back of the pasture was a big white/gray woolly creature. Mike stopped the car and I ran across the road to get a photo. The creature came nearer , slowly at first and then when I made encouraging noises came right over to the fence to see me.

Now he ( I guess it was a he) had that snooty, arrogant look that seemed to say. “If you haven't get a treat for me, I'll spit on you !”so I kept well back. He did have a wooly coat but close up he had big patches of brown on the gray. Interesting animal but I'm not sure if it was a llama or an alpaca. I've noticed a few of those around some of the field in this area lately.

I'm also not sure if these are kept as pets or have been rescued. A couple of years ago it seemed every other field had a couple or so donkeys .That was when a couple of donkey sanctuaries went out of business and lots of donkeys had to find new homes. There was also a zebra in a field right by our town hall, but his owner said he had been rescued as well. Along one of the major highways there is a field that always has a herd of buffalo grazing there. Once it even had a camel mixed in with the herd.

I guess we have a lot of kindly folk around here that rescue these odd animals to give them a home so it makes for interesting driving .

I think I still prefer the horses . 

Indian Summer

Indian Summer

Our road in Indian Summer

It is always lovely after a cold snap which we had a week or so ago to wake up and find out that Indian Summer is here for at least for a few days.

The weather changed and the temperatures rose to the high eighties throughout the weekend so we had bright sun and finally a lovely day to see that the leaves were finally on the change here. It was so nice we went out for a drive in the convertible, let the breeze blow through our hair and see all the lovely colors of the season. 

View from the patio

Then we came back to sit outside to have a lunchtime drink of sherry and beer while sitting in the sun.

It doesn't get much better than that!!

Cheers for Indian Summer!!

Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore

Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore

I picked this book to read on my tablet. It was under historical fiction and I could see a picture of the Eiffel tower so I thought this would be a story based on the lives of the Impressionist painters in France. I am very interested in that style of painting and the lives of the painters, Van Gough, Degas ,Toulouse Lautrech and others and thought this would be an excellent read.

It was indeed a peculiar read. I should have guessed this as the subtitle of the book is A Comedy D'Art.It was entirely fictional with a capital F although each of the great painters do appear in the story.It is satirical, and funny in places; vulgar in other places and quite informative in details throughout the book.

The story tells of the magical qualities of the pigment , the sacred blue, hence the title. Each of the painters go somewhat mad or delusional when they use the sacred blue on their paintings lured on by always a beautiful woman. The book starts off with the suicide of Van Gough but asks the question,was it really suicide or murder??

I can't say I really enjoyed it although I did learn a lot about painting at that time. At least I think I did but you feel when you read it, that a big joke is being played on you .

Old Music - "Oklahoma"

Tonight on my PBS station there is a showing on Great Performances of Oklahoma  I remember seeing this when it first came out as a film and I was enchanted with the musical. Musicals as they were called were very popular then as both stage shows and films and it was a great treat to see either.I lived in England at the time with never a thought that one day I would see Oklahoma.

Even now when we drive through there , it's only about an hour drive from where we live, the tunes come rushing through my head. I'm glad I'm old enough to remember them.

Here is the youtube version of the song sung by an old favorite Gordon Macrae

and Shirley Jones and cast; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbrnXl2gO_k

Enjoy!

The Princess of Potato soup

The Princess of Potato soup

Cold and dark evening so what to eat for our evening meal? Soups are always popular here on these Wintery evenings but which soup? Mike makes a great celery soup and we have lots of celery but we had that last night.

Inspiration! Mike has just received a new Allrecipes magazine and there is the perfect soup for tonight. It is a delicious ham and potato soup and after he has checked the fridge we have all the ingredients and so that is what we have. It truly was delicious; a true princess of potato soup. 

 You can find the recipe at armagazine.com/potato-soup

My only complaint was it looked so great and you wanted to eat it straight away and that was a big mistake as it was really hot and a burnt tongue was the result. So be smart if you make it give it a couple of minutes to let it cool down a bit.

By the way for 2 of us Mike halved the amounts and it made two large plates of soup.

To read this way or that way...

                 To read this way                       or that way...

now that is the question.

I read a lot. Usually 2 or 3 books a week. Not always the same book at once as I like to keep a book by my bedside which I read every night and I keep that as a special. I don't read much at night as I get too tired and fall asleep so it takes a while to finish that book

I always have another book on the go somewhere around the house and maybe even 2 as sometimes I start a book only to give it up after I find I have no interest in the story, it is not well written or strangely enough I have read it before.

My virtual bookshelf

 I have started to read books on my ASUS tablet . I have only just started to do this and it certainly has it's pros and cons. It is good for fiction and cheap as I can borrow books for 2 weeks from the library exchange for free. There are plenty to choose from and a hold facility where you can be put on a waiting list for a special book.

I can set the font as large as I want to so don't have to use my reading glasses which always seem to go missing just when I need them. It is lightweight and fairly easy to use unless the memory is low- my fault, or the cat keeps nudging the edge of the tablet and turning the page over. That can be really annoying.

Sometimes after a while when I read I feel my eyes blurring and someone told me that is because the light maybe too high on the tablet.I probably can adjust that.

Tablet reading

It is not so easy to pick up and start reading the tablet as a regular book and for some reason doesn't give me the 'cosy” feeling I get when I read a regular book.

The big issue I have with tablet books  is I am given a date when the book will suddenly stop working so I am reading to a deadline and feel I have to keep reading whether I feel like it or not and that isn't pleasant.

I do like browsing all the books on the tablet and reading the reviews from other people so I guess I shall read both kinds and probably enjoy both in the right situation and consider myself lucky that reading is such a pleasure.

Fighting the leaves

Fighting the leaves

The leaf shredder

As many of you know we live on an acre of land which has mostly large trees. They are mostly deciduous oak trees with a scattering of ceder elms and other naturally occurring trees of this Cross Timbers area of Texas.

We love our trees and in the 8 years nowthat we have lived here, we have tried to keep them all healthy and we have enjoyed them. They are just great in the hot Texas summer as they provide lots of cooling shade which in turn keeps the house cool as well. They are pretty in Winter when the snow occasionally covers them .They are just lovely in the Spring with the fresh green leaves appearing.

But at this time of the year I can't say I love them as we just get heaps of falling leaves everywhere. These trees have leaves that do change color but not much. The ceder elms go a yellowish shade and occasionally the Bradford pear trees will tun a reddish brown but the oak leaves mostly go a dull brown if they go any color at all. Mostly all they do is blow down and even though I now leave them where they fall there are always some areas I just have to clear up so we can walk on clear paths .

Last year I thought I had found the answer. I bought an electric leaf shredder.

It really is very efficient. It is almost easy to use. I say that as I can set it up by myself and turn a switch and it will start.. I don't have to yell for help to pull cords or unscrew things so in that respect it is fine. There are drawbacks though , It has to be a fairly calm day. I have to have old clothes on and I don't have to mind being covering in a fine dirty dust by the time I finish.

If I keep at it I can make mountains of finely churned up leaves which later I can spread as mulch or compost.

Although sometimes I do wonder just why I go to all the bother!!

Blue Jays LOVE to bathe

Blue Jays LOVE to bathe   

We have 2 bird baths in our yard and they are both well used. I try to keep them going with water but they dry out quickly in the summer and also one specific visitor uses a lot of water each time he takes a bath.

 We have a lot of blue jays living around here so I'm never sure if it is the same bird that loves the water but blue jays are constantly bathing and using the bath.

Here are some lovely photos Mike took of the birds in the bath.

All done!!

Remembering Poppy Day

Remembering Poppy Day

In England the equivalent of the USA's veterans day is known as Poppy dayor Remembrance Day

I remember when we were little it was a badge of honor to wear a poppy on Remembrance Day as at that time people could still remember many of the brave soldiers of World War I & 2 as Grandpa Fred or Uncle Alfie and all families had been touched in some way by those wars.They were still very close in time.

The paper poppies were a symbol which you would buy and wear on that day.

I remember one year as part of the Girl Guide program to help,that I stood on the corner in rather cold and windy weather with a cardboard tray filled with cardboard poppies and a can to collect money for them. I was doing my part by helping to sell the poppies. It wasn't a hard job . Most everyone would have a few pennies to spare or even sometimes half a crown to add to the box and I would help them to pin a poppy on their jacket or coat. Sometimes you would see a tear come to a person' eye as they looked at the poppy and you would sense they were remembering someone who had been very special to them.

The Last Plant of Summer

The Last Plant of Summer

photo by Mike

Just as I think no more new flowers until Spring especially with the arrival of frost coming in here mid week what do I find blooming in my yard but this beautiful flower.

This is a plant I bought about 2 years ago as a very small supposedly climbing vine.

I thought it would do nicely as a climber to an old patio umbrella skeleton we had in the garden.

The first year it just sat there. I covered it in leaves for the winter.

The second year as it sat there it grew a little. A very little. Then it was mostly eaten by grasshoppers .

This year it really did nothing until about July and then it got it's second wind and the stalks on the plant grew until they were about 2ft or so in length but still no sign of flowers and I had almost given up on it again.it did seem as though it was flourishing.

Then this morning I saw these lovely red trumpet flowers so I guess it's a form of cultivated trumpet vine. It's a shame that the humming birds have already left. They would love these flowers.

I am so pleased it made it this year!!

I know about the wild trumpet vines as they grow along my back fence but were very sparse this year.

This one is much more beautiful

Feeling Old

Feeling Old   

the little old people

Some days I just feel old!! Usually it's when the weather is dreary or I haven't had a good night's sleep or maybe I did too much the previous day . When I do I often think of these little carved wooden figures.

They are probably about 40 years old by now. I remember we bought them as a gift for Mike's parents when we had been on holiday and had gone to visit them in their retirement home in England. I think we had originally bought them because when we saw them in the store , they reminded us of Alice and Percy. They would sit in their matching arm chairs and that is how we remember themeven now although they have passed on a while ago

I can remember when we gave the carvings to them, they thanked us but didn't seem to be especially thrilled with them. I think I can understand why now. No one wants to think of themselves as old but until you reach that stage in life you really can't begin to understand that. I think I am beginning to do so now.

The little figures were kept on the mantleshelf with all their other little treasures which they had collected through the years.When we eventually went to clear up after Alice died, the little figures came back with us to sit on our shelf.

I often look at them and think we are getting closer to being like these figures each year especially when I'm feeling old.

Good idea from tinypic,com

Cooking Day

Cooking Day 

When the weather turns colder My thoughts turn to cooking!!

About 2 weeks ago I had bought apples and treacle meaning to actually make an apple pie and also a treacle pudding.

Apple pie

 2 weeks later both were still in the cupboard. So today I got to it, and actually made the apple pie. I make an awful mess when I make pastry as anyone will tell you, with flour and implements all over the place. So today I found a video of making pastry in a food processor and decided to do it this way. Not difficult and more control. The pastry tasted just fine but did I make a mess? Yes. I still had flour everywhere especially as my new bag of flour just wouldn't all go in my flour bin and my trying to squash it in didn't actually work. Still I cleared it all up and the apple pie smelled and tasted great especially with a big dollop of ice cream.

Cauliflower Cheese

Mike, not to be outdone, had found a recipe for cauliflower cheese with ham which he made. It was a different recipe from the one he usually uses. He wanted me to say which recipe was best but until I have a taste test with both on the same day, I don't think I want to choose. This recipe today was very nice.

No time or room left in our stomachs to make and eat a treacle pudding, I'll do that on another cold day.

Mrs Kimble by Jennifer Haigh

Mrs Kimble by Jennifer Haigh

A very interesting work of fiction of 3 ladies all called Mrs Kimble. They span the years from the 1950s up to almost the present. 

This is a book of relationships between husband and wife , children and their parents and siblings. All are related through their husband ,Mr Kimble.

This book in fact could have been called the 3 Mrs Kimbles as they are all married to the same man but do not realize it. The book develops slowly and at first you think it will revolve around the son Charlie of the first wife but in fact it develops as Ken Kimble leaves one wife to go on to the next.

This is one of those books that the more you read the more interested you become in the story,

November 5th, Guy Fawkes Day

November 5^th, Guy Fawkes Day

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...

A treason plot that went very wrong and a traitor who got what was coming to him ( or so they say). 

Guy Fawkes day in Britain these days is no longer a state holiday as it once was but now more a social day of bonfires and fireworks.

I didn't much care for this day and celebration in England when I was growing up. It comes in November and it is often a wet, cold, foggy time. I did not care for the boys throwing fireworks around and I am always a bit wary of fires.

One thing I do remember is we would make a GUY up of old clothes stuffed with newspaper and then go around saying.” Penny for the Guy' It got to be quite a competition in my street.

My Dad loved to have a bonfire and I think it was him who helped us make the bonfire and burn up the guy.( and a lot of other junk as well).

“Guy Guy string him up on High!!”